Viewed on DVD. Restoration = ten (10)stars; cinematography/lighting = nine (9) stars; score = nine (9) stars. Director Kon Ichikawa's bizarre WWII mash-up of choral music, anti-war narrative, kinder and gentler Japanese soldiers, and Japan locations unsuccessfully masquerading as Burma makes for a fascinating film. Basically it is a photo play of fantasized propaganda whipped up by the script writer, Natta Wada (the Director's wife), so just park your brain next to your disc player and enjoy the ride (especially if you simply crave endless choral renditions of the 19th Century song, HOME, SWEET HOME!). In addition to choral arrangements, an obviously prop harp (the "Burmese harp" of the title) serves to link together scenes with emotional fluidity. This film is the first (and likely the only) dramatic (i.e., non-musical) movie to stage a military surrender through singing! (Could choral singing contests be the key to eradicating global armed conflicts?!) That said, the movie is, surprisingly, not maudlin, but much too long and often boring. Besides countless close-ups of choral singers, the closing scenes consist of reading an excruciatingly long letter by a Japanese army captain to his troops. They are stuck on a ship taking them home (so the troops can not escape by jumping to the next DVD chapter!). Cinematography (narrow screen, black and white) is excellent especially for exterior location shots. (It is a shame the movie was not shot in color.) Scene lighting is exceptional and some of the best exhibited in Japanese films of the era. Akira Ifukube's score is one of the best composed for a Japanese film after the war. Subtitles are okay, but, interestingly, signs posted in English are not translated into Japanese. Well worth watching at least once. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.
Review of The Burmese Harp
